Five outstanding scientific faces in 2015

5 scientists were voted as the outstanding faces of 2015 by great achievements in the fields of science in the hope of improving human life better.

1. Alain Carpentier: Dreaming of an artificial heart transplant

2015 has brought hope to patients with heart failure. With the success of the third artificial heart transplant surgery, the names of Alain Carpentier, surgeon and cardiologist spread across the media. Is it possible to prolong the lives of people with heart failure with a prosthesis, shaped and functioning as a true heart? That is the dream of Professor Alain Carpentier who has been cherished for 25 years. But his dream has to overcome many challenges.

Specialist in cardiovascular surgery Alain Carpentier.

A bold project. Upon starting his career, Professor Alain Carpentier was interested in artificial biological cardiovascular parts, from blood valves to arteries made from animal tissues. But the biggest and most ambitious dream is still an artificial heart. Along with Carmat Group, Professor Alain Carpentier succeeds in his bet: bringing life to people with heart failure.

In the next few months, a fourth heart transplant will take place before conducting extensive tests. For Carmat Group, the field of artificial heart transplantation will be a huge potential market. Currently this group has also been listed on the stock exchange. According to Carmat estimates, in Europe and the United States, there are more than 20 million people suffering from heart failure. Estimated when put into the market, an artificial heart will cost about 150,000 euros.

Now 82 years old, and despite three deaths, the cardiologist Alain Carpentier still does not want to review the feasibility of this project.

2. Emmanuelle Charpentier: A dream of gene therapy

Of the 100 typical figures in the world in 2015, voted by Time magazine of America, scientific researcher Emmanuelle Charpentier is the only French woman to appear on the list of "Key to success".

Biologist and geneticist Emmanuelle Charpentier.

She was the discoverer of the CRISPR-CAS9 technique that allows the editing of genes, opening up a prospect of treating genetic diseases until now the medical industry still has to give up. CRISPR-CAS9 can be viewed as a Swiss pocket blade, allowing for the removal and neutralization of a gene carrying genetic pathogens. Thanks to this technique, scientists now not only better understand the function of each gene, but also can correct the deficiencies in the genetic genetic diseases and some cancers.

Of course, this discovery, on the one hand, opens up new treatments, but, on the other hand, also raises concerns about easier "manipulation" of genes. Therefore, the Unesco International Organization in the past year has requested more time to assess the scope of the discovery.

The CRISPR-CAS9 technique of Emmanuelle Charpentier this year is still ranked second by La Recherche magazine among the 10 typical science events in 2015. Emmanuelle Charpentier is now the leader of a research center in Germany and become the most sought after laborer and accept the highest level of payment.

3. Paul Duan: Information technology for the benefit of people

Although only 22 years old, Paul Duan has established a position in Silicon Valley, when he established his own business, Bayes Impact. The main focus of the work focuses on inventing software to improve public hospital services or as an anti-unemployment tool. Paul Duan is now believed to be the most promising new face in America's Silicon Valley high-tech zone.

Paul Duan.

As children of the digital age, Paul Duan's math has been revealed since he first started working at Eventbride, selling tickets online. He has created a software that minimizes and detects scams on the Internet. A tool used today by many microcredit institutions allows to reduce losses by up to 30% and thus can lend more to the poor.

The start-up company he founded, called Bayes Impact, is in the position of a non-profit organization. But that did not hinder his organization within the past year to sign many big contracts.

On the other hand, today with his software, his company helps US hospitals reduce the elimination of transplants in patients, or to help optimize vehicle routes. ambulance. In short, many projects can help save thousands of lives every year and open a bigger path for digitizing public administration services.

Moreover, Bayes Impact Startups also advises the US government on issues related to inviting veterans to return and pay benefits.

4. Eric Karsenti: A new huge database of microorganisms

On December 14, 2015, the French National Center for Scientific Research awarded the gold medal - one of the most prestigious scientific honors in France for researcher Eric Karsenti - for his great contributions to water science. houses in general and for cell biology in particular.

With his expedition called Tara Océans , Eric Karsenti collected more than 35,000 cell samples and categorized more than 40 million types of bacterial genes, forming the largest database ever, after Charles Darwin. He is a cellular biologist, and has a remarkable research area with more than 2,000 scientific papers published by France's La Recherche magazine as one of the 10 remarkable scientific events in 2015.

Eric Karsenti.

Recruited by the French Center for Scientific Research in 1976, the researcher was dispatched to the European Research Center for Biological Molecular Biology EMBL, in Heidelberg, Germany. According to him, science will go even faster if people know how to coordinate with many majors together. And in 1996, he founded the Department of cell biology and physiology at EMBL.

In the 2000s, Eric Karsenti followed Charles Darwin's footsteps to form an expedition project called Tara Oceans. In 2009, Eric Karsenti officially set sail, starting a trip around the world on the sea, with the aim of understanding the main role of microorganisms living in the ocean.

For four years he collected 35,000 microbial samples, from the sea surface to a depth of 600 meters. To facilitate data collection, he and his team had to identify 68 different areas, scattered across eight regions of the ocean, and then divided into 210 stations.

At each station, different types of microbiological samples are collected, especially according to the size of the organisms. They can range from viruses to small multicellular organisms only a few millimeters in size. With a large number of microbiological samples collected, he identified 40 million different types of bacterial genes, forming the largest ever database of marine microorganisms.

5. Elon Musk: Hoai storm autonomous household energy source

American billionaire Elon Musk, SpaceX Group president.

Self-production and power supply in the house? Why not? That was Elon Musk's dream. He is also the person who is pushing the entire space sector into a fierce competition. His promise is not normal, can create a revolution in the field of energy.

Not only is the owner of a business, Elon Musk is famous as an ambitious person. He is the owner of SpaceX, a group specializing in manufacturing missiles. His group is also commissioned by NASA to send astronauts into space.

Elon Musk also has the ambition to transform the world and to do that, he has attacked the energy sector. He has just released a new set of batteries, which are believed to be unequaled based on the simple principle: The size of a cabinet, installed in the house, during the day, this new battery pack electrically charges itself. solar panels and then provide electricity for the rest of the time. With such a system, every household can be self-reliant on energy.

Of course, that ambition still requires more time to implement, but Elon Musk always likes challenges, such as he still wishes to be the first person to set foot on Mars and end the last days. life there.